The Truth Is Always Stranger Than Fiction
by philyra-tales
Summary: After a wrestling match with Emmett, Edward finds himself in a peculiar and unfamiliar situation.


**Written for the OS_TWILIGHT Freaky Friday Challenge over at LJ.**

**Twilight and all of its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.  
**

**Inspiration for this piece came to me while I was drinking tea, about 5 days ago. It's just something I whipped up and couldn't have been as in-depth as I would like it to be. After all, it's only been 5 days. If you really look at it properly, this story makes no complete sense whatsoever, but then again, soul swapping isn't really possible, is it? :D  
**

**I hoped I wrote the baseball scene right. I've never been to an actual game so I hope I got the details at least halfway accurate. **

**Enjoy!**

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_Set before Eclipse._

_Written in Edward's POV._

"This is strange," Carlisle muttered under his breath. "This is very strange indeed." He shook his head subtly as he shone a light into my eyes. I didn't know why he even bothered. Our eyes don't react to the light. Nothing _reacts _anymore.

Our entire family was gathered in Carlisle's study, anxious faces worrying about us. I was leaning against his desk while Carlisle examined me. Bella was with them as well. I could see her nibbling on her bottom lip, a sure sign of her uneasiness. I caught her eye and smiled at her, trying to ease her fears. Somehow, the smile she returned seemed fraught with even more apprehension.

"Tell me what happened once more." Carlisle instructed.

Jasper cleared his throat. "We were at the clearing when Emmett wanted to wrestle. Edward went first and I was keeping score. Nothing out of the ordinary…" he mused. "I suppose Emmett was a little rougher than usual but other than that, everything was normal."

I turned to look at Emmett leaning against the wall. He was in a deep conversation with Rose but grinned broadly when he saw me looking. Carlisle had already examined him before me.

"Are you sure?" Carlisle pressed on. He would never doubt Jasper's version of the events but he needed to make sure. He needed to know if anything different happened today.

Jasper paused, his mind going through what happened at the clearing earlier. I tried to peek into his thoughts but somehow, I couldn't. Silence.

Everyone was silent. I couldn't hear _anything._

Oh no.

"Well, just before we rushed back, Emmett collided into Edward and when they fell to the ground, it seemed like they went unconscious for a few seconds." The room started to fill with hushed whispers. "Not for very long," he hurried to clarify. "But it was there."

"Vampires can't go unconscious, can they?" Bella asked in a small voice. Esme smiled sympathetically.

"No, we're not supposed to, dear." She patted my Bella's shoulders lightly, hoping to comfort her. It didn't seem to work. Her own anxiety was cracking through her voice.

"There's one more other thing," I decided that I had to tell Carlisle now. After all, it's not like I could keep it a secret, not when everyone was so worried about us. "I can't seem to hear anyone."

"Hear what, dear?" Esme placed a gentle hand on my knee.

"I can't hear anyone's thoughts anymore."

Immediately, silence fell over the room. Nobody knew what to do. Carlisle looked straight to Emmett who suddenly seemed uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Can you hear our thoughts, Emmett?" Carlisle asked.

"I was wondering what all those voices were…" He laughed nervously, an obvious bid to alleviate the tension in the room. "I guess I know now…"

Carlisle turned to face me once more. So rarely would I see confusion cloud his face. How could this be? He was always the one with the answers; the one we could always turn to when in doubt. What would we do now?

"Alice, can you see anything in their futures?" He asked.

Alice had been quiet throughout the entire affair. I wondered why. I wished I knew what she was thinking now. She seemed so troubled. It was…difficult to see Alice troubled.

Her eyes glazed over for a long moment before she regained her composure. "Sorry, Carlisle. There's nothing to see. They seem to have disappeared." Ah, like the wolves. Our future must have changed now; it could no longer hold us. No wonder Alice couldn't see us.

"I'm afraid there isn't much I can do now," Carlisle apologized as he kept his medical kit. "I don't know how this could have happened." He placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. I will do as much research as I can. Perhaps the answer is in there somewhere."

I smiled weakly. The rest of the family began to disperse; it was weird seeing Rose leave with my body like that.

Bella came towards me, another small smile on her face. "Don't worry, Carlisle will figure it out," she placed on my shoulder.

I tried to find the positive upshot in this whole situation. It wasn't so bad really. I mean, sure, somehow, Emmett was stuck in my body and I was stuck in his.

It couldn't be as bad as everyone thought it would be.

Oh god. Who was I kidding?

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Settling down into my "Emmett" routine was harder than I had first anticipated. For one, I couldn't join Bella in school. I was supposed to have "graduated" already so Emmett followed her in my place. It was extremely weird to see him accompanying her to school every day.

I knew I was still _me, e_xcept I saw my own body moving around without me.

Rose wasn't as…understanding as I was. She needn't go to school anymore, like me, but she didn't like the idea of her Emmett accompanying Bella. I suppose I should be more sympathetic. After all, we were all in the same boat. It must be so disconcerting to be with your lover, but not actually seeing his face.

It's been a week already. I suppose I should be getting used to this by now.

The single, most major change was the fact that I could no longer read anyone's thoughts. I knew I always complained to myself that it would be nice if I didn't have any powers but now that it was actually gone, I felt…strange. I felt like I wasn't completed. I could no longer anticipate the actions of others. I was so used to having that slight buzz in my ear, so used to having to tune it out. Now that I didn't have anything to tune out anymore…

I supposed being Emmett does have its perks. Nothing could physically faze me anymore. It felt unnatural every time I flexed my new muscles, which was often. You know, just for the heck of it.

The sound of the opening front door brought me out of my preoccupation. I watched as Emmett, still in my body, escorted Bella into the house. Usually, this would be roughly the time when I got bombarded with Emmett's thoughts on Forks' pathetic football team and how he wished he could join, but would never risk exposing us for what we really were.

"Hey, I have thoughts about things _other_ than football, you know?" Emmett grumbled as Bella came to sit by me on the couch.

"Ah, yes… How could I forget about Rose?" I sighed and rolled my eyes.

Bella giggled. Emmett playfully smacked the back of my head but naturally; I felt nothing. I should have, of course, retaliated, but I didn't want to appear so immature in front of my Bella. He ran up the stairs at vampire speed, no doubt to see his beloved.

It was the weekend and Alice had worked her magic on Charlie to allow Bella to spend one night at our house; presumably for a slumber party with her. Charlie still very much disapproved of me, I didn't blame him at all, and Bella still had a curfew but Alice had a way with people.

"You shouldn't tease him like that," Bella admonished me gently. "He's doing his best too."

Of course I knew that but Emmett's personality made it hard for me to remember.

Bella continued, as if I weren't even there. "At school, he has to remember he's you and not do anything out of the ordinary for you. It's not that easy for him too. Plus, he _hears_ everyone as well. It's not something you can just turn off…"

I simply stared at her. Emmett and her must have bonded during all those shared classes; it was…different to have her stand up for Emmett. This was not to say she never liked Emmett, I dare say she liked him most out of all my siblings but it was still…different.

She sighed and laid her head on my chest. "This is still so strange," Bella whispered as she curled up beside me, tracing lazy patterns on the back of my hand. My hand was a lot larger than hers now; hers was almost child-like in comparison to mine.

"What's still so strange?" I asked.

"You in Emmett's body," she shrugged. "Me talking to 'Emmett' now," she drew imaginary inverted commas in the air. "Me cuddling up to Emmett." She laughed.

"Well, you better enjoy it now," I teased. "There probably won't be a next time."

"Is Carlisle having any luck with his research?"

I sighed. "He's been going through every single text he has and nothing. This stuff just doesn't exist. He thinks it's just a one-off occurrence."

"Will you ever switch back then?" she asked in a serious tone. There was that worry again. She tried to keep her face neutral, silly Bella, but her eyes betrayed her.

"I honestly don't know." I kissed the top of her head. I was a much better liar when it came to concealing my worry, but deep down, I was frightened. What if Emmett and I never switched our souls back? We would be stuck in each other's body for eternity and an eternity actually _meant_ something in our world.

"Have you guys tried colliding with each other again?"

I laughed. "Yes and no, it didn't work."

Bella joined in and soon, we were laughing for reasons even we weren't quite sure of. It was nice to laugh like that. In the midst of all the worry and anxiety, this was a welcomed reprieve.

Soon, her need for oxygen caught up and Bella gripped her sides in a bid to stop herself from laughing and catch her breath. Her laughter died down and her breathing leveled out. She looked up to me.

"I just remembered something."

"And what would that be?"

"I think you should talk to Alice. I don't know if you've noticed but it seems like she's upset. She's been so quiet this whole week," her tone was serious now. Obviously, she had given this a lot of thought. "Even Charlie mentioned it earlier."

I _had_ in fact noticed the changes in Alice but I had no clue as to what triggered it. Usually, I would simply used my powers to find out what was troubling her so greatly but now that I was completely useless in that aspect…

It's been a week already; Jasper and her never had a fight that lasted this long before. Come to think of it, I don't think they've ever had a fight before. I had to do something.

"Do you mind if I took some time to talk to Alice now? You're right. I need to find out what's going on," I requested. It wasn't gracious of me to have Bella as a guest in my house and then neglect her.

"No problem," she shrugged and smiled. She got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "I need to get myself a snack anyway."

I moved towards her in a flash and kissed her lightly on the cheek. A lovely pink flush colored her cheeks as I raced towards Alice's room.

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"Come in," I heard Alice call out to me even before I had reached the end of the stairs. I was getting a little uneasy now; Alice sounded _sad_ and miserable. She sounded like someone had just told her there was a sale at Chanel and then told her it was a mistake even before she could head down there.

I pushed the door to her room gently, unsure of what I would see. I took tentative steps inside and I saw Alice seated on her bed, cross-legged with the most despondent expression on her face. My heart, even if it had been dead for over 80 years now, fell to the pits of my stomach. I simply couldn't see my sister so sad like that.

"What's wrong, Alice?" I hurried over to her side, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. It felt unfamiliar, having to comfort her like that. Usually, if my arms were around her, it was more to _restraint _her than anything else. "Where's Jasper? Why are you alone?"

"I sent him out to hunt," Alice heaved a huge sigh and brought her knees to her chest. "I've been making him feel depressed for too long already…"

"And why have you been so depressed?" I asked, urging her to lean her head against my chest. I've realized that in Emmett's body, I have a pretty broad chest. I'm fairly certain that girls like leaning on broad chests, somehow; it makes them feel comforted.

"I feel so…useless," she was exasperated by now. "You and Emmett have swapped souls and there's nothing I can do to help! I can't see into your future, none of the research I'm coming up with seems to be working…" She punched me in the thighs.

"But you've never let such things bother you so greatly before," I pressed on.

"I know… but ever since…" She trailed off. She closed her eyes, as if she had a bad dream chasing her. I wished I knew what she was thinking; I just wanted to help her in any way I can.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. "When you…when you left Bella and then, our family…" her voice started shaking.

I knew how hard it must have been for her, for _all_ of us. My leaving Bella and then my family was a subject that we still could not talk about. It was much, much too painful for all involved.

Alice continued. "I felt so…helpless. I couldn't do anything to help with the pain, or Esme's misery or even Rosalie's anger. I just felt so weak and useless and now, the first time we're all together again and I can actually help, I _can't_ and you don't know what it feels like…" She threw her arms around my neck, hanging on to me for support.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized as I held on to her. "I'm sorry that I caused you so much pain…I never meant…I never meant for any of these…" I could not carry on. Suddenly, the agony and torment I had put myself through during all those moments; they failed to compare to that of my family's. I knew that I was hurting them but I was selfish. I only cared about my own pain, Bella's and mine. I was the worst son and brother my family could never hope for.

We held on to each other for a long time. Or perhaps it was only for a moment but as vampires, our concept of time was different. We held on to each other for the suffering, the heartache; the Via Dolorosa we had to take to get to where we were right now. Even though we could no longer cry, the experience felt cleansing, like we were finally letting go of all the pain we held inside for so long.

Alice finally pretended to sniffle a little, wiping faux droplets from her glistering eyes where the venom was trying to work as tears. I followed suit, attempting to please her.

She laughed, her usual wind-chime sounding laugh. I instantly realized how much I had missed it. "I can't believe I got so emotional."

"At least you're still in your own body," I teased.

"Speaking of which…" Alice untangled herself from me. "Emmett is so…_annoying_. He keeps telling me about his new powers and how he can read everyone's minds now and he does just _that_!" She tried to stamp her foot on the floor while still seated on the bed, but her legs weren't long enough. "He goes around reading my mind, even Jasper's and it's so frustrating."

I chuckled. "And you thought _I_ was bad. At least I knew how to respect your privacy when necessary."

She shrugged. "It's not too bad. I just keep thinking about Jasper naked and Emmett immediately backs off," she laughed. "I think he finally gets why you don't like to read his mind so much now."

I joined in with the laughter when Alice's eyes suddenly seemed to glaze over. I knew she was having a vision, but it irked me to have to ask what was it about.

"What is it, Alice?"

"There's a thunderstorm coming. Jasper and Emmett would want to play," she beamed at me.

"Well, we shouldn't disappoint them then," I got off from the bed and as Alice rushed in front of me to announce her vision to the rest of the family, I thought about how we had to make a quick detour to drop Bella off at her house first.

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Against my better judgment, my family happily agreed to have Bella accompany us on our baseball game. I did my best to dissuade her, after all, since when Bella was interested in sports? But somehow, she insisted on coming along this time and everyone was enthusiastic about letting her.

Everyone but me.

Was it wrong of me to worry about my _human_ girlfriend wanting to play sports with my _vampire_ family? Her safety was a foremost concern in my mind and I wouldn't even bring up that incident with James. Granted, that was my fault but she was still my responsibility. I was not being a killjoy, or as Emmett so eloquently put it, a "dickhead".

He better not be spewing all these vulgarities when he's in school, especially not when he's still in my body.

I watched, albeit being discontented, as Emmett managed to find a football helmet in his Jeep and was currently securing it on Bella's head. Only my girl, my Bella, had to wear a football_ helmet_ when playing baseball.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked, uneasy. I still wasn't sure that I should be letting Bella play. The last time, she was only a spectator and look what happened. This time, she actually wanted to _play._

"Uh-huh," Bella nodded. The helmet was too big for her but Esme managed to pull the straps tight enough so that it wouldn't obstruct her vision. "I just want to have a little fun tonight," she smiled at me.

I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Go get them, tiger."

Bella took the bat that Carlisle handed her and the rest of us moved to our respective bases. I took second base, Emmett took third and Rosalie took the last one. Our playing field was much smaller now; it was roughly the same size as the professional leagues. I made everyone promise that they had to keep at least a 5-feet distance from Bella at all times and Esme promised she would keep an extra eye out for Bella.

This was just a disaster waiting to happen.

Alice stood straight, deceptively motionless, as per her usual style. She was moving a lot slower though, I noticed. I suppose it was for Bella's benefit. The ball was in her right hand and then, swinging her right leg back, she threw out the ball.

For a fleeting moment, I was petrified that the ball would hit Bella at full speed but my fears went unfounded. I realized that the ball was moving a lot slower as well; Alice must have eased up on her strength.

Bella saw the ball coming at her and swung the bat with all her might. She must have been nervous herself; she had swung and let go of the bat and narrowly missed hitting Jasper in the head.

"Sorry! Sorry!" She apologized profusely. Jasper ran the short distance to retrieve the bat and returned it to her. Bella was blushing now, obviously embarrassed by her mishap. Jasper merely shook his head, dismissing the entire incident.

"Strike!" Esme called out. Carlisle had caught the ball and tossed it back to Alice.

"Don't worry, Bella. This is fun!" Alice tried to encourage Bella who could only managed a feeble smile.

I tried not to feel bad. After all, it was only one strike. Bella would catch the next one.

Alice threw out the ball again but it was yet another strike. The bat just somehow did not want to connect with the baseball. "Wow, Bella, you really suck!" Emmett announced.

Esme immediately ran over to where he was and smacked him on the head. Using my vampire hearing, I could hear her admonishing him for being unkind to Bella.

"It's okay, really!" Bella shrugged. "I really _am_ that bad!"

"He still didn't have to say it out loud, dear!" Esme returned to her side.

"Sorry, Bella!" Emmett apologized, rubbing the sore spot on his head. Even Rosalie was glaring at him disapprovingly. I would smack him myself but I did not want to let my temper get the better of me.

"All right. Let's go," Alice called everyone's attention back to the game. I could see Bella focusing all of her awareness on Alice; she was determined to hit the ball at least once. Alice threw out the ball again and amazingly, Bella managed to hit the ball! The bat connected with the ball with a solid "thud" and immediately, she let go of it, making a run for second base.

"Ahh!!!!" Emmett cried out in pain. The ball had hit him right in the face. Of course, it couldn't have hurt him acutely but it did seem serious enough. He fell to the ground and everyone ran towards him, even Bella and I. His hand clutching his eye, he rolled around in agony for a while before passing out.

"Emmett, stop it!" I watched as Rosalie hit my body with tight slaps, clearly believing that Emmett was pretending. Suddenly, I felt the ground beneath my feet shook a little before everything went black.

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"_Is he okay?" _

"_Has he really lost conscious?"_

"_Is he human now? Like a real, real human…"_

My head was still spinning, I felt dizzy and disorientated. I cracked open an eyelid and I saw Carlisle, Rosalie and Jasper hovering above me. Their faces immediately broke into relieved expressions when they saw me regain conscious. After all, it _was_ alarming to have a vampire lose consciousness all of a sudden.

"Are you all right, Emmett?" Carlisle asked as he helped me to my feet. "I suppose you and Edward must have had that episode again."

Why was he calling me Emmett? Surely, even he could tell the differences between us…

"Where's Bella?" I asked, anxious to calm her down. I knew this was just the sort of thing to send her into a panicked frenzy.

"You're back!" Comprehension immediately dawned upon Carlisle and he shook my hand, beaming as he did so. Rosalie let out a delighted scream as she raced towards where the rest of the family was.

I saw them helping Emmett up from the ground and called out to Bella, "Bella, love, what are you doing over there?"

She turned in my direction and with a huge smile stretching across her face; she ran towards me and leaped into my waiting arms. Ah, it felt good to be back.

**~FIN~**

**Please review. I'd like to know what you thought of it. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.  
**


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